Fish sauce is essential to Thai/Laotian/Vietnamese as shrimp paste is to other asian dishes, as strong reggiano parmigiano cheese in italian dishes (which I can't stand either...). To substitute these essentials would be OK, but not as good and tasty. You can substitute fish sauce with amino acids mixed with dried shrimp?

I did not find hot and spicy food from Indonesia... so here it is. One of my fav: ASAM-PEDAS (=sour hot) BEEF. Preparation is more akin to pulled meat dishes.
Place beef (or pork) in pot (crock pot), add spices and cook until very tender.

Spices (to taste): a handful of hot chili pepper (any kind), oinion, garlic, ginger, candlenut (or almond). Pound of process to make paste and rub the meat with it.

Add lemon grass, galangal.small amount of shrimp paste (or fish sauce) and enough tamarind (fruit or paste). Salt to taste. Braise until tender - several hours, depending on cuts of meat. You can add quarter of tomatoes toward the end of cooking.

This dish tastes better the next day.

Had a sweet and sour tilapia last night in a Vietnamese restaurant. In my opinion, the fish should be washed first with lemon/lime and salt before frying it to eliminate the strong smell that is very familiar with fresh water fish, such as trout. And, because the fish is very delicate, I suggest that the sauce should not be too vinegary.

+1. Place it on a bed of spinach and you have a healthy and cheap meal. If not spicy enough, have Schiracha sauce combine with sweet soy on the side. Eat with pasta, or rice....

This thread has gone all over the place... What the OP needs to tell us is: what are their favorite foods in D.C., and we can point out whether or not it is available here in Hawaii. On the other hand, of course the OP can enjoy different kinds of foods probably not available in D.C. -- that, of course, we have plenty of.

You can do the same thing with old regular toasting bread -- sprinkle some water before toasting and it's good as new... no more stale bread.

Don't they make weed cookies? So, what's the difference if you like cigar, you may like cigar cookies as well.

Don't worry, once you get used our local food, you will always want to return to Hawaii later on... it has that effect on you. Abundance of Thai/Lao, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, combination of Hawaiian/Asian (called local food), fancy fusion foods of East/West cuisine and some others, combined with beautiful weather, beaches and lust mountains will be your beautiful memories for years to come. Welcome to Hawaii.

A real good strong Indonesian food... Used to have Bali Indonesia resto. on Kapiolani, but was prepared to the mild local taste ... and now ... no more. Even the ones in SF or LA area have been diluted down. But, I rely on my own kitchen to producetr such wonderful feast to my tasteThankfully, I can find needed spices either in Chinatown or Asian market. About the closest taste is when I visited Australia where there are lot of Indonesian/Malay population paired with those wonderful Australian wines.... :)

The restol is run by Brazilian brothers, I believe.

No worries -- whenever you move away from your "hometown", you will always miss something that you are used to. Be brave and explore new things... you won't find a better poke than in Hawaii, nor huli-huli chicken. Heck, my son ordered laulau Zippy's and shipped it to Ohio!! I missed food that I used to eat while growing up in Asia, but what the heck..

Adega -- on Pauahi St. - used to be the location of Mei Sum (?) dim sum. She moved a block away.

Simple sorbet would be coconut sorbet (made with canned coconut milk) -- creamy, yet dairy free. Very easy to make... you can make it with ice cream maker or freeze/zap in blender/refreeze several times until creamy consistency is reached.

There is a Brazilian/Portuguese resto. in Honolulu's Chinatown -- Adego Resto. I see some CH review on it.

You can find it fresh or frozen in Chinatown. It tastes terrific so long it passes your nose. Very creamy and heavenly. (or hell?) ....LOL. It costs about $25 per head, fresh. If you are new to this, I would recommend you get the durian shlush available at the Maunakea food market.

Durian - one of the fruit wonders of the world... used to eat tons of them growing up in Southeast Asia. Best way to prepare it is by making a custard and pout it over vanilla ice cream. An acquired tast, but never forgotten.

Boil a whole chicken with some salt, garlic, ginger, shallot, green onion , and star anise (opt.) until tender. Take the chicken out to dry, rub some sesame oil on it. Strain the remaining broth and cook rice in it as usual. Taste the seasoning.

To serve, cut the chicken in pieces and arrange on top of rice with chopped coriander and/or fresh chili pepper. This is the very basic recipe. You can add some coconut milk but the recipe will be called nasi lamak (creamy rice).

Unless you go to the "real" fishmarket, poke in supermarket are made from frozen fish.

Add to your Chinese style stir-fry mix vegies, with our without your favorite meats. Chicken is my preference.

Unless you use the more flavorful organic breasts, I would slowly braise it with low heat in order for the flavor to permeate. Or best yet, eat it the next day--will taste so much better.

Wow -- I always thought carrots grow from seeds... will try and see what happens. thanks.

We always buy carrots from the Farmer's Market and it come with its beautiful green tops. Such a pity to throw it away. Is there any way of cooking carrot tops?

+1... per Sara Moulton -- there is no right or wrong in cooking so long you enjoy it! :) Some like it hot, some like it mild; some like it sweet, some like it sour .. usw usw

Beside tofu salad, I also use it a lot as a condiment with some spunk...

kecap manis + regular soya sauce (or fish sauce)
chopped FRESH hot chili pepper
chopped shallot
pinch of garlic
squeeze of lime or lemon

Use for dipping all kinds of roast/steam/fried meats. Also good for dipping fresh cucumber.

My kids were not impressed... too touristy and crowded. Perhaps it's because of the Merrie Monarch festival?

On the way back to the mainland, we had dinner at Thai Lao in Kapolei and were very happy with the food and service...

I have made it with coconut milk instead of yoghurt... tastes even creamier.

It would be like the garlic/ginger/scallion sauce added to Chinese Steam Chicken. So long the garlic is finely mashed, it won't have the aftershock taste. You can also pre-roast the garlic to minimize its strong flavor. I really enjoyed this recipe made by my BFF some weeks ago. Since I prefer spicier food, I add Schiracha sauce to my dish and it's just mmmh mmmh good. Can also simmer fish in the left over sauce...

It was late in the afternoon near Happy Hour on a Sunday; so there were lots of young ones. Other than that, BFF and I enjoyed the place very much. Should have stopped for dessert at Matsumoto shave ice, but already had too much to eat between the fish tacos and the chips/ salsa.

I have yet to find a Mexican restaurant that serves chilaquelas (sp?), I had a very good one when visiting Hermosilo some years ago. Anybody knows?

My son and daughter in law (first Hawaii visitor) will be attending the Merrie Monarch festival. They will be staying in the Volcano area and has asked about this Thai Thai restaurant, which will be close to where they stay. Any input/review that I can convey to them about this resto? Mahalo...